Another Bahai arrested in Hamadan; Bahai businesses remain closed

Iran Religious News, April 26, 2015.

Mehran Khandel (مهران خاندل), a Bahai living in the city of Hamadan, was arrested in his home on the afternoon of April 26. Agents from the security forces of Hamadan Province first searched his home, where Mr. Khandel was present with his two young children. Witnesses said that the agents had no search warrant, and conducted the search and arrest in an inhumane manner.

Agents from the security forces had visited his home earlier, when they arrested nine other Bahais in Hamadan city, but he was travelling at the time. He had just returned, on April 26, when security forces arrived to arrest him.

In November 2012, 32 businesses linked to Bahais in Hamadan Province were closed down by the authorities. The Bahais were told that they could re-open if they agreed not to close on the Bahai holy days. Because Bahais in Iran are excluded from employment by the government and from many economic sectors and professions, they rely heavily on small service and retail businesses to earn their livelihoods. The business remain closed today, although one source of friction, the celebration of the births of the Bab and Baha’u’llah during the month of Muharram in the lunar calendar, has been largely obviated by a change in the Bahai calendar, to celebrate these days on a solar, not lunar, calendar.

Mr. Khandel’s business is one of the Bahai businesses closed down by the authorities, and his father, Hussein Khandel (حسين خاندل), was charged with being a Bahai and executed by the authorities in 1981.